My Reason

When I made my decision several weeks ago, it came to me that I should formally explain the reason in this blog. Yes, I've decided to stop playing Ragnarok Online, and yes, there are several reasons behind it.

First of all, I still love the game (just to clear things up). I even made a simple experiment just to confirm that. You see, I haven't logged into the game for a long time now, so I checked on my account just a few moments ago. The tune of the loading screen itself is a dead give-away that a great part of me is still longing to get back to the times when the game was at it's prime. And then, I had my blacksmith go back to what I really consider my RO home - Geffen. I used to play only mages, so that the theme of the city of magic is so much inscribed into heart that hearing just the first few notes is enough for me to remember the memories I cherish most.

Still, a decision has to be made. It's not a choice between good and evil, nor between the lesser of two evils, or anything of the sort. It's not world-changing, and it most certainly isn't fate-affecting.

So why leave it behind? These are the factors that affected my choice.

Major ones first, I guess. If there's one thing I hate most about the game is that it is being run by a company in which I can no longer see either improvement or development. Time after time, I've turned a blind eye over the things, which all pointed out to one direction - that everything is pointless.

I need not a degree in business or personnel management to see where things are going wrong. All throughout those days when my addiction was at it's peak, I've blatantly refused to accept the fact that ominous signs are everywhere. I used to hope that things will improve, that there is still a faint ray of light in the dark abyss that things are being led to.

Alas, I no longer could continue the path of martyrdom that LU! wants its loyal customers to take. And so I decided to quit.

Another major factor is the conflict within my first real guild (the only one, and the last) that shattered the very foundation upon which I set upon my renewed addiction when I thought I'd give up late last year. Honestly, I can no longer continue in a game that I thought binded us into a genuine bond of friendship. Sadly, the bonds broke due to a little rift, and I find myself in a situation wherein no one is left within arm's reach. Yes, that's how I feel. And that is a factor why I decided to quit.

Technical glitches and whatnots within the game also led me to give up. With every new episode, it became more and more apparent that it was no longer a game for gamers - rather, way up to the core, the game had become the merchandise it really was. Because of the game being more and more inclined against gameplay enjoyment and more into it's commercialized value, I decided to quit.

And just recently, it was brought into focus that the game, albeit not among the most graphics-intensive of computer games, really does push the hardware to the limit. I've tried pitting it against 3D games that are to be expected to consume more hardware resources, and I've seen for myself that it raises CPU usage to the maximum whereas other games hardly use half of the full capacity of my Core2Duo processor. And I include that among the other factors why I decided to quit.

Then there's the pRO community that is also falling into disarray. There's a great portion of the community that are just too fed up and are, like me, quitting. And there's an ever greater portion so much blinded by the championships that morals are set aside just to outshine the others. In the gray area between the two margins, there are those numerous martyrs who also love the game too much that they still haven't arrived into the choice I've taken, which is to quit.

Just so to stop myself from putting things that may prove to be libelous, I'm ending this update here. And to clear things up why I only write these down now, it's because along with my decision to quit is the decision to make this post *only* when I know that I'm really ready to stick to my decision, and really ready to tell the whole world about it. Good bye, RO.